Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 255 They Really Have Confidence in You

The graduation ceremony of Yanda was held one day later than that of Yanshi University. The ceremony started at nine in the morning and ended at ten thirty.

After the ceremony, the students finally got the assignment letters they had been longing for. Just like what happened at Yanshi University yesterday, some were happy and some were sad.

No matter how the students feel, their college life is finally over. Starting tomorrow they will go their separate ways and scatter around the world, and naturally they will be filled with sadness of parting.

After the students of the Chinese Department Class of 77 shared their respective assignments, some of them have already started packing their luggage.

Suddenly someone suggested, "We should go to the Fifth College to say goodbye to the teachers."

"Why don't we write something?"

Everyone put their heads together and soon a heartfelt farewell letter was born.

The students took the farewell letter to the Chinese Department office and posted it on the wall in the corridor.

Many people were moved when looking at the words written with a brush on the wall. In their excitement, Zhang Yaozhong, a conspicuous figure, read them out loud.

"Farewell Teacher": Goodbye, dear teacher!

We shouted "goodbye" reluctantly and solemnly. We knew that many people had shouted this before and many more would shout this after.

But we can't help but stubbornly believe that our "goodbye" contains the richest and deepest emotions, because - we love you so much..."

The loud reading startled the teachers in the office. Some of them poked their heads out of the office to check what was going on, while others just walked out to watch the fun.

Listening to the emotional recitation, the teachers showed gratified smiles on their faces.

At this moment, the students saw Yang Hui walking out of the office. His years of accumulated prestige made the students feel like mice seeing a cat when they saw him, and they quickly pulled Zhang Yaozhong.

Zhang Yaozhong, who was just starting to think positively, was interrupted by everyone. He looked at his classmates with an unhappy expression, then followed their gaze to see Yang Hui, who had a serious face. The expression on his face suddenly froze, and his eyes struggled for a few seconds.

Then, he ran away!
Everyone was confused by his actions. They came to say goodbye for no reason, why were you running away?
Although they thought so in their hearts, everyone has the instinct to follow the crowd, especially when Yang Hui, a person they fear like a tiger, was standing not far away.

As the second person followed Zhang Yaozhong's footsteps, the students fled frantically like an avalanche, as if they had done something wrong, leaving the teachers, who were originally pleased, looking puzzled.

What's going on? Didn't you come here to say goodbye? Why are you all running away?
Yang Hui walked out of the office door and came to the wall where the farewell letter was posted, and looked down to where Zhang Yaozhong stopped.

"…We are leaving, who says we won't take a piece of cloud with us? Your hard work has been integrated into our lives, no matter where we go.

All students of the Chinese Department, Class of 1982 (signatures) January 9, .

After reading the contents of the farewell letter, Yang Hui's usually cold expression softened a little.

These little bastards are trying to stir up some sentimentality before leaving!

A group of people ran out of the Chinese Department office. Chen Jiangong was the first to react and asked everyone, "Why are you running?"

“I ran because I saw Yaozhong running.”

"Then why did you run?"

"I think the director looks unhappy."

"Why are you afraid of him? We've already received our diplomas!"

"If you're not afraid, don't run!"

Everyone was complaining to each other, regretting their cowardly behavior just now.

After the complaints were over, someone asked, "What are we going to do now?"

"Let's all go and say goodbye to the classmates and friends we know," Chen Jiangong suggested.

"Alright."

As they spoke, they raised their feet and prepared to separate.

After walking for a while, Chen Jiangong noticed that there were still quite a few people around, so he asked, "Where are you all going?"

"I'm going to say goodbye to Chaoyang." Zhang Yaozhong said.

"What a coincidence. I went to see him and say goodbye as well."

"Me too."

There were six or seven people in the group, all going to say goodbye to Lin Chaoyang.

Everyone came to the library, and Lin Chaoyang had just returned from outside. Today was not only the graduation day for the class of 77, but also the graduation day for him, a correspondence undergraduate student in the library department.

Thinking that they wouldn't see each other again in the future, everyone greeted Lin Chaoyang with extra warmth.

After everyone chatted for a while, Lin Chaoyang asked everyone where they were going after graduation.

Chen Jiangong was assigned to the Yenching Literary Association to become a professional writer, Liang Zuo went to the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, Liu Zhida went to Guangming Daily, and Li Tong went to People's Daily...

The students of the Class of 77 of the Chinese Department of Yenching University came from all over the country, but the students with Yenching household registration received the best job assignments.

"Good, good, everyone has a bright future." Lin Chaoyang smiled and blessed everyone.

After chatting for a while, everyone was eager to go out for dinner and headed to the Changzheng Restaurant outside the south gate of the school.

As they were about to part, these people started crying and laughing after drinking too much, and then left the restaurant under the waiter's disgusted gaze.

After slacking off in the library for the entire afternoon, Lin Chaoyang rode his bike out of the school when it was time to get off work.

A group of graduates left today, and the Yanda campus has returned to normal, with no changes at all.

No. 7 West Chang'an Avenue, Federation of Literary and Art Circles Building.

At the end of get off work time, Tao Yushu and Zhang Dening walked out of the building together, surrounded by employees who had just finished work.

Arriving at the carport in the yard, Tao Yushu got on his motorcycle, said something to Zhang Dening, and rode out of the Cultural Bureau compound.

"Hey, Xiao Zhang, is that the new person in your editorial department?"

Just as Zhang Dening was about to leave, Qi Guirong, deputy secretary-general of the Film Association next door, came over and started chatting with her.

"Yeah, Yushu just graduated and just came to work today."

Sister Qi said, "I heard this morning that a beautiful college student has come to your editorial department. She looks really pretty."

Zhang Dening thought of Sister Qi's usual business scope and personal hobbies, and couldn't help but say, "Sister Qi, don't mess around with them. They've been married for several years."

Sister Qi looked at her reproachfully, "I'm just asking, look at you!"

Then she asked again: "Are you really married?" Zhang Dening said speechlessly: "Yes, I am."

Sister Qi looked at Tao Yushu's back with regret. "Yes, such a pretty girl, and a college student. She also rides a motorcycle, so her family must be well-off. What does her husband do?"

"writer."

"Hey! A talented man and a beautiful woman, are they famous?"

"famous."

"Who?"

"you guess!"

Sister Qi scolded, "You always interrupt me, don't you?"

"Hey, I won't tease you anymore. You know Xu Lingjun, right?"

Sister Qi was surprised. "She is his lover?"

"Correct."

Sister Qi asked again: "A writer and a student, how did they know each other? Were they introduced by others?"

When talking about this issue, Zhang Dening's desire for gossip was stirred, "This is a long story."

When Sister Qi heard this, she realized there was something behind it. She pulled Zhang Dening and said, "Come on, come to my office and sit down."

Riding a motorcycle back to the Overseas Chinese Apartment, Tao Yushu rubbed his hands and went upstairs.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw Zhu Changsheng sitting in the living room. After greeting him, he realized that Zhu Changsheng came today to give Lin Chaoyang a sample copy of "The Death of Van Gogh".

The cover of the book depicts a burning sunflower field, with fiery red and yellow mixed together, revealing a vibrant artistic appeal.

"This cover design is really beautiful!" Tao Yushu said as he looked at the cover.

Zhu Changsheng smiled and said, "We originally wanted to use Van Gogh's painting as the cover, but Chaoyang thought it was too tacky, so we changed it to a burning sunflower, using Van Gogh's famous painting."

After chatting for a while, Zhu Changsheng said goodbye and left.

Lin Chaoyang then asked Tao Yushu, "How do you feel about your first day at work?"

"It's pretty good. Everyone is very nice to me and the editing work is very interesting." Tao Yushu said happily. It was her first day at work and she felt new about every aspect of the job.

After talking about work for a while, Tao Yushu asked about the publication of "The Death of Van Gogh".

The novel is published by Renwen Press and is scheduled to be released next week, with an initial print run of 200,000 copies.

“They really have confidence in you.”

“It’s about having faith in the novel.”

"Lust for Life: A Biography of Vincent van Gogh" published by Yenching Publishing House has sold nearly 500,000 copies in four months. For such a biographical work, this is undoubtedly a record sales volume.

Zhu Changsheng and Lin Chaoyang just talked about this matter. Now the sales volume of "Lust for Life - Biography of Van Gogh" has become a highly noticed phenomenon in the domestic publishing industry.

Before this work, no one in the publishing industry could have imagined that a biography of a foreign painter would sell so well.

The more important reason why everyone pays attention to this book is that Van Gogh was not very famous in China. The hot sales of "Lust for Life: Biography of Van Gogh" are actually entirely based on the influence of "Death of Van Gogh".

The influence of a novel driving book sales is still a very new and unique proposition for the publishing industry.

"In that case, the sales of The Death of Van Gogh will definitely be good after it is published."

"Who knows? Of course I hope to sell as many copies as possible. After all, the more copies I sell, the more I will earn!"

For the publication of "The Death of Van Gogh", Renwen Press offered a basic fee of 12 yuan per thousand words and a fee of 5% of the print run for every copies.

The basic remuneration is RMB 2640. As for the remuneration for print run, since the print run has not yet exceeded 80 copies, the standard of 2% of 1056 copies, or RMB 80, will still be applied. When the subsequent sales volume exceeds copies, the difference in remuneration for print run will be made up.

All together, the first print of "The Death of Van Gogh" brought Lin Chaoyang 3696 yuan.

It is a considerable sum of money, but considering the 20,000 yuan in royalties paid by the Hong Kong Chinese University Press last time, the more than 3,000 yuan in royalties this time seems mediocre.

Tao Yushu chuckled and said, "Don't be so ungrateful. Publishing in Hong Kong isn't something you can always get."

Speaking of this, she couldn't help but fantasize, "I wonder how your novel is selling in Hong Kong."

"You say I'm ungrateful, but I think you're the one who's ungrateful. I'm a mainland writer, and I'm not famous among Hong Kong readers. How much sales can I expect? Maybe the publishing house won't even be able to make back its investment."

The couple teased each other, creating a warm atmosphere.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang received the manuscript fee from Renwen Publishing House. Today was Saturday, and he went to Tao's house after work.

Every Saturday night, the couple would come to Tao's house for dinner.

While Tao's mother was preparing dinner, Tao Yumo said to Tao's father, "Dad, my sister has graduated. This is a happy event for our family. Should we celebrate?"

Lin Chaoyang glanced at the round curve of his sister-in-law's cheek and wanted to remind her: Stop eating, or you will become a ball.

Father Tao glanced at his little daughter and asked, "What do you think?"

"Tomorrow is the weekend, we should go to the city and have a nice meal, just to celebrate for my sister."

Tao Yushu complained: "Are you celebrating for me or for yourself?"

"It's all the same, all the same." Tao Yumo said with a flattering smile.

"I think Yumo's suggestion is a good one. We haven't gone out to eat for a long time, so it's a good time to have some fun."

Tao Yucheng voted in favor. His statement was understandable. How could he leave out his brother-in-law when it came to eating and drinking?

As the brother and sister were talking, they were already discussing which restaurant to go to.

There are many famous restaurants in Yanjing City. Tao Yumo wants to eat Russian food, while Tao Yucheng wants to eat mutton hotpot. The two of them cannot reach an agreement and finally ask Tao's father for help.

Father Tao pondered and said, "Tomorrow Chaoyang, call your parents along, and we'll go to Donglai for a meal."

Hearing this, Tao Yumo looked disappointed, but soon she became happy again.

It's also good to eat some mutton hotpot when the weather is cold, sesame sauce, pickled garlic, mutton hotpot...

When she thought about the taste, she couldn't help but let out a slurp.

(End of this chapter)